Setting Up Anonymous User Tracking

An anonymous user is someone who visits your portal without logging in. Working with anonymous users can be limiting because you have less information about them. However, you can use tracking tools to find out more about these users, such as the date and time they visit and information in the request or session.

Anonymous user tracking can help you present personalized content to an anonymous user over multiple sessions. For example, you can set up visitor entitlement, delegated administration, and some types of personalization based on that information. Anonymous user tracking gives anonymous users records in a database, where you can store meaningful information about them, such as personal preferences.

Developers use Workshop for WebLogic to programmatically set up anonymous user tracking. You cannot use the Administration Console to set up anonymous user tracking.

Using Anonymous User Tracking

WebLogic Portal lets you identify and retain information about non-authenticated visitors to your portals. When you enable anonymous user tracking, non-authenticated users receive a cookie after a predetermined time (the default is 30 seconds), and preference information is persisted in a database rather than in memory.

Each time an anonymous tracked user returns to your portal, the ID in the cookie matches the primary key in the tracked anonymous user database, the previous user properties are maintained, and your personalization and campaign rules work for this user. When an anonymous tracked user registers in your portal, the user profile is moved from the anonymous tracked user database to the user database.

If users do not have cookies enabled or if they delete cookies frequently, there is no way to match the users with their existing records in the anonymous tracked user database, and on subsequent returns to the portal these users are treated as new anonymous users.

Anonymous user tracking can be customized to exclude users who spend less than a designated period of time on your site, avoiding the expense of storing data on irrelevant users.

Choosing a User Tracking Profile Type

Anonymous Users – If anonymous user tracking is not enabled, users who visit the site without registering are considered anonymous, non-tracked users. There is no ID associated with the user.
Trackable Anonymous Users (also called Trackable Users) – If you enable anonymous user tracking, anonymous users are considered trackable on the first visit. If a trackable anonymous user remains at a site longer than the specified duration, the user is automatically converted into a tracked anonymous user. An ID is associated with the user, but the ID is not persisted.
Tracked Anonymous Users (also called Tracked Users) – If a trackable anonymous user remains at a site longer than the specified duration, the user is automatically converted into a tracked anonymous user, and a cookie with the tracking ID is given to the user. That ID is used as the primary key of the tracking EJBs associated with that user, so when the session ends, the user’s properties are persisted and available for the next visit. If a tracked anonymous user returns, the tracking ID in the user's cookie is used to retrieve the user properties from the database, and those properties can be used to enable personalization and run campaigns against the user.
Registered Users – If a tracked anonymous user registers at your site, the data collected on that user is transferred to the new user (now considered a registered user) and is deleted from the anonymous user database.
Unknown Users – Unknown users include users whose status cannot be determined. When the unknown user’s session begins, the ProfileWrapper is not yet created.

Setting Up Anonymous User Tracking

You must configure anonymous user tracking by editing the web.xml file in your web application directory in Workshop for WebLogic. You will enable cookies on the user's browser in order to track anonymous users. You must also enable anonymous user tracking for your portal, because the tracking is not enabled by default.

In Workshop for WebLogic, locate the web.xml file, which is typically located in the /WEB-INF directory in your web application.
Double-click the web.xml file to open it. You can also edit the web.xml file in a text editor.
Locate the PortalServletFilter section, which begins with the following code sample:

<filter-name> PortalServletFilter </filter-name>
<filter-class> com.bea.p13n.servlets.PortalServletFilter
   </filter-class>

Change the fireSessionLoginEvent parameter value to false, as shown in the following code sample:

<init-param>
   <param-name>fireSessionLoginEvent</param-name> 
   <param-value>false</param-value>
   <description> Option to fire SessionLoginEvent, defaults to false
      if not set</description> 
</init-param>

To create a user profile that can store information about each anonymous user, change the createAnonymousProfile parameter value to true, as shown in the following code sample.

<init-param>
   <param-name>createAnonymousProfile</param-name>
   <param-value>true</param-value> 
   <description> Filter will create an anonymous profile for every
      session. Defaults to true if not set</description>
</init-param>

The default is true. To disable the creation of anonymous user profiles, set the value to false. If the enableTrackedAnonymous parameter is set to true, the createAnonymousProfile parameter is ignored.

Note: The createAnonymousProfile parameter does not enable anonymous user tracking from one session to the next without registering; this would require the enableTrackedAnonymous value to be changed to true. If a user visits your site and then registers within the same session, any data collected on that user is persisted in the account of that registered user.

To begin tracking anonymous users, change the enableTrackedAnonymous parameter value to true, as shown in the following code sample:

<init-param>
   <param-name>enableTrackedAnonymous</param-name> 
   <param-value>true</param-value>
   <description> Option to track anonymous users, defaults to false if
      not set. 'createAnonymousProfile' is ignored if this is true
      </description>
</init-param>

Change the trackedAnonymousVisitDuration parameter value to the number of seconds before tracking begins. The following code sample shows that tracking is configured to begin after five seconds:

<init-param>
   <param-name>trackedAnonymousVisitDuration</param-name>
   <param-value>5</param-value>
   <description> Length in seconds visitor must be on site before we start
      tracking them. Defaults to 60 seconds if not set</description> 
</init-param>

Save your edits to the web.xml file.

Targeting Anonymous Non-Tracked Users

You can target anonymous non-tracked users with personalized content using a personalization tool, such as default (non-campaign) placeholders and content selectors. Campaigns and behavior tracking are not currently supported for anonymous, non-tracked users.

The difference between completely anonymous non-tracked users and registered or anonymous tracked users is how long their profile information is retained.

For example, if an anonymous user visits a portal and sets preferences to favorite color=purple and favorite hobby=reading, those values are persisted in memory and can be used to display personalized content and trigger campaigns while the browser session lasts. However, if the user closes the browser and revisits the portal, the user preferences must be re-entered. Registered and anonymous tracked user preferences are saved in a database.

While anonymous users might not retain a consistent store of user preferences from session to session, you can still provide some Interaction Management functionality. Many personalization conditions are based on generic HTTP session and request properties that you define, dates and times, or personal session preferences that have no relationship to registered users and their profile properties. For example, you could display personalized content for anonymous users accessing your portal with a specific type of browser during a specific time frame.

See the Interaction Management Guide for instructions on setting up placeholders and content selectors for anonymous non-tracked users.

User Management Guide

Setting Up Anonymous User Tracking

Using Anonymous User Tracking

Choosing a User Tracking Profile Type

Setting Up Anonymous User Tracking

Targeting Anonymous Non-Tracked Users